"This is a cheaper, cost-effective master mix for qPCR than many others available. It is easy to use, though I use it at half the volume recommended in the instructional sheet. The clear bottle that it is shipped in is unsuitable for the mix, so I aliquot it upon receipt and use 1 ml at a time-this prevents SYBR degradation due to ambient light exposure. Keep in the dark. "

"This kit is easy to use and has all the advantages of phenol: chloroform extraction with much less hassle. The RNA extraction with this kit takes less than 5 minutes, either directly from the Direct-zol(TM) itself or from the chloroform step. If you take the RNA from the chloroform extract, then you can still extract the protein and DNA. Furthermore, the RNA is high quality and gives good spectrophotometer readings (the 260/280 and 260/230 readings which are typically close to 2.0). This kit is cheap and works well. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to extract RNA and continue to use their phenol: chloroform extraction reagents."